# ESA Letter in Pierre, SD: Either Party May Elect

> File a charge in South Dakota and your landlord can move it into court without your consent. SDCL 20-13-35.1, and why that may be the better forum anyway.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/south-dakota-emotional-support-animal/pierre/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-09-05
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

## Key facts

- Population: 13,788
- Households renting: 31.4%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Barred as accommodation
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $25-$40/mo for pets
- Breed/weight limits common: sometimes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## The capital rents at exactly the state rate

Pierre has 1,843 renting households out of 5,864 occupied homes, **31.4
percent** on the 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate.

South Dakota's statewide renter share is 31.4 percent. Not close to it: the
same, to the tenth of a point. The state capital is the state's own average.

Median gross rent is $983, thirty-seven dollars above the $946 state median.
The 2024 Census estimate puts Pierre at 13,788 people, eleventh in South
Dakota and fifteen behind Spearfish. The rental market is shaped by a
two-month legislative session that fills the town each winter and empties it
again in March.

Pierre is also where the Division of Human Rights sits, which makes it the
city whose tenants are most likely to file a charge, and most likely to be
surprised by what happens to it afterwards.

## The fork nobody expects

You file a charge under SDCL 20-13-29. It is served on the landlord. A
commissioner investigates. Notice issues requiring the landlord to answer.

Then SDCL 20-13-35.1:

> "No later than twenty days after the issuance of notice requiring the respondent to
> answer the charge, **the charging party or the respondent may elect** to have the claims
> asserted in the charge decided in a civil action, in lieu of a hearing, under the
> provisions of this section. Any civil action shall be filed within one year of such
> election. **Upon receipt of notice of election, the Division of Human Rights or the
> Commission of Human Rights has no further jurisdiction over the parties concerning the
> charge filed.**"

Read the subject of that first sentence again. "The charging party **or the respondent**."

Your landlord can elect. The section does not condition the respondent's
election on your agreement, and once it is made the administrative process
ends, the Division loses jurisdiction over the parties entirely.

That is unusual, and it matters before you file rather than after. The forum
is not your choice alone.

## Which is not necessarily bad news

The instinct is to treat being pulled out of an agency process as a loss. In
a South Dakota housing case it often is not, because of what the same
section makes available in court:

> "In a civil action, if the court or jury finds that an unfair or discriminatory practice
> has occurred, it may award the charging party **compensatory damages**. The court may
> grant as relief **any injunctive order, including affirmative action**, to effectuate the
> purpose of this chapter. **Punitive damages** may be awarded under § 21-3-2 for a
> violation of §§ 20-13-20 to 20-13-21.2, inclusive, 20-13-23.4, 20-13-23.7, or 20-13-26.
> **Attorneys' fees and costs may be awarded to the prevailing party for housing matters.**"

Compensatory damages. Injunctive relief including affirmative action.
Punitive damages. Attorneys' fees. The Division's own powers under SDCL
20-13-42 are cease-and-desist and affirmative action, which is a narrower
toolkit.

A landlord who elects a civil action to get out of an agency investigation
has moved the case somewhere the tenant can recover more.

## The one-year clock, and where it starts

> "The Division of Human Rights or the Commission of Human Rights shall notify the parties
> in writing of the election and of the one year limitation period in which to file a civil
> action. **The limitation period in which to file a civil action begins on the date of the
> notice of election.**"

Not the date of the election. The date of the **notice** of the election.
That is a small distinction with a real consequence: your year runs from a
document the Division sends, so keep it, and diarise from its date rather
than from a conversation.

## The list that tells you 20-13-23.7 has teeth

Look again at the punitive damages sentence. It names sections 20-13-20 to
20-13-21.2, 20-13-23.4, **20-13-23.7**, and 20-13-26.

SDCL 20-13-23.7 is the good-faith reasonable-accommodation duty: the one-sentence
provision that "for purposes of employment, public accommodation, public service, and
education or housing, good faith efforts shall be made to reasonably accommodate the
disabled person unless the accommodation would impose undue hardship."

A landlord may argue that 20-13-23.7 imposes no real obligation,
particularly with SDCL 20-13-21.1 nearby saying the chapter requires no
modification of property, no additional expense and no higher degree of
care. The answer is in the remedies section: a legislature does not attach
punitive damages to a section that requires nothing of anyone.

## The 180 days that come first

None of this happens without a charge, and SDCL 20-13-31 gives you **180
days after the alleged discriminatory or unfair practice occurred**, no
discovery language anywhere in the section.

Being in the same town as the Division does not extend it. Neither does
having asked someone about it. Date the request and date the refusal in
writing when they happen.

## The underlying claim

The right comes from **42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B)**, the federal Fair Housing Act's
reasonable-accommodation duty, and from SDCL 20-13-23.7. Charges attached to the animal
come off under SDCL 20-13-20(2), disability discrimination in "the terms, conditions, or
privileges" of a rental. SDCL 43-32-6.1 caps everything the landlord holds at one month's
rent "however denominated," just under a thousand dollars at Pierre's median.

The landlord may ask for documentation under SDCL 43-32-34, unless your
disability or the disability-related need is readily apparent or already
known to them.

## What the Division can and cannot do

Worth knowing before deciding whether the agency route is the one you want.

Under SDCL 20-13-42 the Commission, on a finding of an unfair or
discriminatory practice, may order a respondent to cease and desist and may
require affirmative action. That is real, and for a tenant whose object is
to keep the animal it may be the entire remedy needed.

What it is not is money. Compensatory damages, punitive damages and
attorneys' fees appear in SDCL 20-13-35.1, which is the civil-action
section. A tenant whose loss is financial rather than practical is looking
at the forum either party can elect into anyway.

**And the election runs both ways.** A tenant who wants the court's remedies can make the same
election the landlord can, within the same twenty days, without needing the other side's agreement.
For a claim that is mostly about money rather than about keeping the animal, that is worth
considering before the window closes rather than after.

## What decides it

Start with a clinician you already see. Central South Dakota makes that hard
in a way the capital's status disguises: Pierre serves a very large rural
catchment from a small number of practices, psychiatric capacity is thin,
and new-patient waits run to months. Some practices decline housing
documentation as standing policy, which is their call.

Where that route is closed, a licensed evaluation is the same examination
arranged on purpose: a licensed clinician settling whether a disability
exists and whether this animal answers it, then writing the determination or
explaining that they will not. Both endings are real.

In front of a circuit court with punitive damages and attorneys' fees on the
table, that document is the part of the case nobody can argue you into or
out of. It is either a real assessment or it is a receipt.

## What Pierre landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- May not require documentation at all where the disability or the disability-related need is readily apparent or already known to them, SDCL 43-32-34, second sentence.
- May not discriminate because of disability in the terms, conditions or privileges of the rental, SDCL 20-13-20(2). A pet deposit or monthly pet charge on a required accommodation is caught here.
- May not take a security deposit above one month's rent "however denominated", SDCL 43-32-6.1, so a pet fee cannot be stacked on top of a full deposit by renaming it.

**Can:**
- May require reliable supporting documentation where a tenant asserts a disability requiring an assistance animal, SDCL 43-32-34. This is an express statutory right and arguing that a South Dakota landlord may not ask is simply wrong.
- May insist the documentation confirm both the disability and the relationship between the disability and the need for the animal, and that it come from a licensed health care provider who does not operate in South Dakota solely to certify animals, SDCL 43-32-35.
- Must make good faith efforts to reasonably accommodate a person with a disability in housing, unless the accommodation would impose undue hardship, SDCL 20-13-23.7, with punitive damages available under SDCL 20-13-35.1.
- Must return the deposit or give written reasons within twenty-one days of termination, and forfeits all right to withhold anything by failing to, SDCL 43-32-24.
- May evict and claim a damage fee of up to one thousand dollars where a tenant knowingly makes a false claim of disability or knowingly supplies fraudulent documentation, SDCL 43-32-36.
- Is not required by the chapter to modify the property, incur additional expenses or exercise a higher degree of care, SDCL 20-13-21.1. Waiving a no-pets rule asks for none of those things.

## How to get an ESA letter in Pierre

1. **Check that you qualify**, Answer a short screening about how your condition affects daily life in Pierre. No diagnosis paperwork needed up front. (About 5 minutes: free)
2. **Connect with a licensed professional**, You are matched with a provider licensed for South Dakota clients who reviews your situation in a telehealth evaluation. (Telehealth evaluation)
3. **Complete your evaluation**, The professional evaluates whether an emotional support animal alleviates symptoms of a condition recognized in the DSM-5. Honest evaluations, not everyone qualifies. (Most of Our Applicants Qualify)
4. **Receive your signed letter**, Your letter arrives on the professional's letterhead with their license number: the documentation South Dakota landlords may lawfully request. (Typically within days of approval)
5. **Send it to your landlord**, Submit the letter with a short reasonable-accommodation request. Pet fees, pet deposits, and breed limits no longer apply to your animal in Pierre. (Protection under FHA + state law)

## Conditions that can qualify for an ESA

No fixed government list exists. A licensed professional evaluates whether an animal alleviates symptoms of a DSM-5-recognized condition, commonly:

- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Major depressive disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Panic disorder
- Social anxiety disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Bipolar disorder
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- Phobias with housing impact
- Chronic stress affecting daily function

## Housing help in Pierre

- [City of Pierre](https://www.cityofpierre.org/) (city government)
- [SD Division of Human Rights](https://dlr.sd.gov/human_rights/default.aspx) (state civil rights agency)
- [Disability Rights South Dakota](https://drsdlaw.org/) (disability rights org)
- [Dakota Plains Legal Services](https://www.dpls.org/) (legal aid)

## Frequently asked questions

### What happens after I file a charge with the Division of Human Rights?

It is served on the landlord within a set period and a commissioner investigates under SDCL 20-13-28 to 20-13-35. There is a fork most tenants do not expect, though. SDCL 20-13-35.1 opens a twenty-day window once the landlord has been told to answer, in which either side may take the claim out of the agency and into a civil action, and the Division loses jurisdiction over the parties the moment that election lands.

### The landlord can move my charge into court without my agreement?

Yes. The words are "the charging party or the respondent may elect," and the section does not condition the respondent's election on the charging party's consent. That is unusual and worth knowing before you file, because it means the forum is not your choice alone. Once the election is made the administrative process ends.

### Is being moved into court bad for me?

Not necessarily, and in a housing case it may be better. SDCL 20-13-35.1 lets a court or jury award compensatory damages on a finding of an unfair or discriminatory practice, grant any injunctive order including affirmative action, award punitive damages under SDCL 21-3-2 for a violation of the housing sections, and award attorneys' fees and costs to the prevailing party for housing matters. The Division cannot award damages of that kind.

### How long do I then have to file the civil action?

One year from the election, and the section is precise about when that runs: the Division must notify the parties in writing of the election and of the one year limitation, and "the limitation period in which to file a civil action begins on the date of the notice of election." Not the date of the election itself: the date of the notice.

### How long do I have to file the original charge?

180 days from when the discriminatory or unfair practice occurred, under SDCL 20-13-31. There is no discovery language in that section. Being in the same town as the Division does not extend it, and proximity is no substitute for dating the refusal in writing when it happens.

### Which sections can produce punitive damages in a housing case?

SDCL 20-13-35.1 names them: sections 20-13-20 to 20-13-21.2 inclusive, 20-13-23.4, 20-13-23.7, and 20-13-26. The presence of 20-13-23.7 in that list is significant, because it is the good faith reasonable accommodation duty. A legislature does not attach punitive damages to a section that requires nothing of anyone.

### Can a Pierre landlord charge a pet deposit for my assistance animal?

Not where the accommodation is genuine. No South Dakota statute bans the charge in terms; it falls away under SDCL 20-13-20(2), which reaches disability discrimination in the terms, conditions or privileges of a rental, and under the federal Fair Housing Act. SDCL 43-32-6.1 caps everything held at one month's rent however denominated, which at Pierre's $983 median rent is just under a thousand dollars.

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Get evaluated by a licensed provider: https://my.supportanimal.com/qualify?sa_source=blog&sa_medium=blog&sa_campaign=esa-guides&sa_content=markdown&ref=blog&sa_term=south-dakota-emotional-support-animal%2Fpierre